Tried this on Sat w/ Susan's steak:
1. Miraflores Estate MethodeAncienne ElDorado (Syrah; 14.6%; www.MirafloresWinery.com) Placerville 2009: Med.dark color; rather earthy/dusty/mushroomy light smokey/oak some blackberry/Syrah slight volatile/aromatic slight pungent/licorice/graphite fairly classic ElDorado Syrah pleasant nose; fairly tart/lean/angular some hard/tannic rather earthy/mushroomy/ElDorado light licorice/blackberry/Syrah flavor; med.long rather hard/tannic tart/lean/angular fairly earthy/dusty/mushroomy/ElDorado slight blueberry/Syrah finish; speaks strong of ElDorado terroir and only lightly of Syrah varietal character; pleasant enough/interesting rustic sort of Syrah. $30.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The Miraflores wnry, up in FairPlay/Eldorado has been receiving some nice reviews over the last yr, so I thought I'd order up a mixed case of stuff to try, this being an xtra from that case.
The winemaker is MarcoCapelli, who bought the old Herbert vnyd that once went to JohnMacCready/SierraVista. Marco is a long-time friend from his winemaking days at Swanson. In the early '90's, ClarkeSwanson bought the Syrah vnyd that originally went in SeanThackery's Orion. His first Syrah out the gate, a '92 or '93, was mightly impressive, some of the best up-Valley Syrahs ever made (this was, of course, afore Lagier-Meredith). Big/bold/ripe and loaded w/ intense boysenberry/Syrah fruit; almost Oz in style. I was a big fan of them.
Since he left Swanson and moved to the Foothills; he has been keeping a rather low-profile. Given what he did at Swanson, I was expecting him to make a big splash up there and turn ElDorado on its head. Such has not been the case. He has been the winemaker at Miraflores for a number of yrs.
I thought this Syrah was good...just that. Vastly different from what he made at Swanson. It spoke strongly of ElDorado terroir...but only whispered of Syrah. Not up to the standards of the Cedarvilles, not some of the SierraVistas. Not quite what I was expecting. Will be interesting to try the rest of the lineup.
Tom